Kenya Economy 2007

Economy - overview:
The regional hub for trade and finance in East Africa, Kenya has been hampered by corruption and by reliance upon several primary goods whose prices have remained low. In 1997, the IMF suspended Kenya's Enhanced Structural Adjustment Program due to the government's failure to maintain reforms and curb corruption. A severe drought from 1999 to 2000 compounded Kenya's problems, causing water and energy rationing and reducing agricultural output. As a result, GDP contracted by 0.2% in 2000. The IMF, which had resumed loans in 2000 to help Kenya through the drought, again halted lending in 2001 when the government failed to institute several anticorruption measures. Despite the return of strong rains in 2001, weak commodity prices, endemic corruption, and low investment limited Kenya's economic growth to 1.2%. Growth lagged at 1.1% in 2002 because of erratic rains, low investor confidence, meager donor support, and political infighting up to the elections. In the key December 2002 elections, Daniel Arap MOI's 24-year-old reign ended, and a new opposition government took on the formidable economic problems facing the nation. In 2003, progress was made in rooting out corruption and encouraging donor support. Since then, however, the KIBAKI government has been rocked by high-level graft scandals. The World Bank suspended aid for most of 2006, and the IMF has delayed loans pending further action by the government on corruption. The scandals have not seemed to affect growth, with GDP growing more than 5% in 2006.

GDP (purchasing power parity):
$41.48 billion (2006 est.)

GDP (official exchange rate):
$17.49 billion (2006 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
6.1% (2006 est.)

GDP - per capita (PPP):
$1,200 (2006 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 24%
industry: 16.7%
services: 59.2% (2004 est.)

Labor force:
1.963 million (2006 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture: 75%
industry and services: 25% (2003 est.)

Unemployment rate:
40% (2001 est.)

Population below poverty line:
50% (2000 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 2%
highest 10%: 37.2% (2000)

Distribution of family income - Gini index:
44.5 (1997)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
14.5% (2006 est.)

Investment (gross fixed):
18.8% of GDP (2006 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $4.691 billion
expenditures: $5.137 billion (2006 est.)

Public debt:
48.5% of GDP (2006 est.)

Agriculture - products:
tea, coffee, corn, wheat, sugarcane, fruit, vegetables; dairy products, beef, pork, poultry, eggs

Industries:
small-scale consumer goods (plastic, furniture, batteries, textiles, clothing, soap, cigarettes, flour), agricultural products, horticulture, oil refining; aluminum, steel, lead; cement, commercial ship repair, tourism

Industrial production growth rate:
6.3% (2006 est.)

Electricity - production:
5.502 billion kWh (2005)

Electricity - consumption:
4.464 billion kWh (2005)

Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (2005)

Electricity - imports:
28 million kWh (2005)

Oil - production:
0 bbl/day (2004 est.)

Oil - consumption:
55,000 bbl/day (2004 est.)

Oil - exports:
NA bbl/day

Oil - imports:
NA bbl/day

Oil - proved reserves:
0 bbl (1 January 2006)

Natural gas - production:
0 cu m (2005 est.)

Natural gas - consumption:
0 cu m (2005 est.)

Current account balance:
$-874 million (2006 est.)

Exports:
$3.438 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)

Exports - commodities:
tea, horticultural products, coffee, petroleum products, fish, cement

Exports - partners:
Uganda 15.9%, UK 10.3%, US 8.2%, Netherlands 7.9%, Tanzania 7.7%, Pakistan 4.9% (2006)

Imports:
$6.796 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)

Imports - commodities:
machinery and transportation equipment, petroleum products, motor vehicles, iron and steel, resins and plastics

Imports - partners:
UAE 11.8%, India 8.8%, China 8.3%, Saudi Arabia 8.3%, US 7%, South Africa 6.4%, UK 5.3%, Japan 4.7% (2006)

Economic aid - recipient:
$768.3 million (2005)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
$2.416 billion (2006 est.)

Debt - external:
$6.931 billion (2006 est.)

Stock of direct foreign investment - at home:
$1.169 billion (2006 est.)

Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad:
$124 million (2006 est.)

Market value of publicly traded shares:
$11.38 billion (2006)

Currency (code):
Kenyan shilling (KES)

Exchange rates:
Kenyan shillings per US dollar - 72.101 (2006), 75.554 (2005), 79.174 (2004), 75.936 (2003), 78.749 (2002)